Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Don Giovanni: Overture

At the close of the Allegro of the Overture, a climax of pleasurable activity, appears a stony figure of heroic mold - the Commendatore. Here, according to the opera-score, the trombones speak for the first time. The music repeats the first ten measures of the Introduction. The half-cadence into which they lead is imitated from that which stands before the beginning of Act I. The final new Allegro corresponds to the closing scene of the entire opera: 'Questo e il fin di chi fa mal.' In this I have employed the trombones (not contained in the opera-score) as a substitute for the vocal ensemble-passages. - Ferruccio Busoni. Instrumentation: 2.2.2.2: 2.2.3.0: Timp: Str (9-8-7-6-5 in set).